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BERLIN — Germany's military business is the world’s third-biggest arms exporter behind the United States and Russia, and the European nation is gearing up to increase the number of troops deployed around the world, The New York Times reported.

Already, German troops are deployed to countries including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo and off the Horn of Africa.

Germany is sending weapons not only to NATO members and allies like Israel, the Times reported, but increasingly to the Middle East and other parts of the globe.

“For decades, we Germans have benefited from the fact that our partners gave us the feeling of reliable security,” the Times quoted Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s defense minister, as saying during a parliamentary debate last month. “Now we are in a position and have the duty, even, to make our impact felt.”